Asylum seeker found guilty of rape of teen in Falkirk town centre

Sadeq Nikzad caught up with the girl in Falkirk, and asked for her phone number and whether she had a boyfriend, the High Court in Edinburgh heard.

Nikzad, 29, made sexual remarks towards the underage girl and led her to the rear of The Courtyard pub where he molested her and subjected her to a rape attack.

Nikzad denied raping the girl but was today (Wednesday) found guilty of the sex crime by a majority verdict of a jury following a trial.

The court heard that he expects to be deported from the UK at the end of a prison sentence imposed for the assault and rape of the victim on October 16 in 2023.

The girl was walking along the town's High Street after collecting a prescription when she was approached by Nikzad. She told jurors: "This is a person I have genuinely never seen before."

She said it appeared that English was not his first language and she found it quite difficult to understand him at times. She said: "It was quite hard at times to decipher what he was trying to say to me."

The girl said that during the assault on her she froze and was "quite shocked". She said: "I knew I needed to get help as soon as possible but I didn't really have anything in me to just push him off.

"If he were to look he would see I was very unhappy and scared."

A woman who was walking towards her car came across the teenager after she was subjected to the attack.

She said: "As I crossed the road, that's when I saw the girl and the man coming out of the lane and the girl came straight over to me. She was in a daze. She looked stunned.

"I knew something had gone wrong. She came to me for comfort. She said she kept telling the guy she was only 15."

The girl's father told the court that he received a phone call from his daughter who told him she had been attacked and when he saw her she was terrified.

He said: " I have never seen her in that state before."

Sentence was deferred on Nikzad by judge John Morris KC for the preparation of a background report on him and his remand in custody was continued.

He was placed on the sex offenders register.